Schools earn 22 As, 4 Fs

Most Elkhart County schools earned an A, B or C on Indiana’s new performance measure.

The Indiana Department of Education (IDOE) released the school grades Wednesday morning at the State Board of Education meeting.

Of Elkhart County public schools, 22 received an A; 14 received a B; 11 received a C; nine received a D; and four received an F from the state.

Wa-Nee and Penn-Harris-Madison school corporations were the two local systems to earn an A in every school building.

This is the first year for the state to use a new system of metrics to determine the letter grade for each school.

Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett has described the new system as more comprehensive, but school leaders across the state have criticized the new accountability system. Local superintendents spoke about their concerns last February, when the IDOE announced the new methodology. They said then that, though the system is supposed to be easier to understand, the equations to arrive at the letter grades are confusing.

According to the IDOE, in elementary and middle schools, the system looks at students’ scores on Indiana Statewide Testing for Educational Progress Plus (ISTEP+) and other standardized tests, student participation on those tests and students’ growth compared to their cohorts each year on those tests. At the high school level, the system takes into account most of that same testing data as well as schools’ graduation rates and students’ college and career readiness based on students’ scores on Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate exams, industry certifications and college credits earned during high school.

Elkhart Superintendent Robert Haworth said that there were some “good surprises” in the letter grades for Elkhart schools, with some schools rating higher than they had anticipated.

Concerning the Elkhart schools that received a D or an F, Haworth said staff is “trying to meet those challenges head on,” identifying why those grades were so low and working to adjust curriculum or other aspects accordingly.

While he personally would like to see some modifications to the new system, Haworth said that “it’s the system we have and we have to respond to the system we have.”

An Elkhart Community Schools middle school was one of three local schools recognized by Bennett Wednesday for showing significant gains in their letter grade from 2011 to 2012. He pointed out that North Side Middle School in Elkhart moved from an F to an A, that Concord South Side Elementary moved from an F to a B and that Concord Jr. High School moved from a D to an A.

Last year’s grades, though, were still calculated on the previous system, while this year’s grades were calculated on the new formula, according to the IDOE.

“We acknowledge that there is still work to do to raise student achievement, and we will continue to do this work while maintaining our commitment to developing the whole child and to providing excellence and quality for all Goshen students,” she said in a written statement.

Goshen High School earned a C through the state metrics, but was named the 12th best high school in Indiana in May by U.S. News and World Report, which used some of the same data as the IDOE’s formula, but also factored in the percentage of economically disadvantaged students and some other data.

Woodworth said that “we believe that the current grades do not accurately reflect the hard work and commitment that Goshen Schools students and staff make every day to student learning,” and that Goshen “will advocate for a more equitable calculation” of the grades, while also striving for school improvement.

For more information on the new accountability system visit www.doe.in.gov.

Here are what local schools earned, according to the IDOE, divided by school district.